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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  Auto Mash (Crawford.WBST129)
  A possible cheap brew kettle? (Kenneth R. van Wyk)
  CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION PLEASE (BLCARR02)
  National Competition Results (hp-lsd.cos.hp.com!att!drutx!homer)
  Subjectivity, AHA Competition Revisited (Jay Hersh)
  Spruce Beer (Gary Benson)
  Oatmeal stout... ("Gary F. Mason - Image Systems - MKO2-2/K03 - 603884[DTN264]-1503  01-Jul-1990 2053")


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Archives available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu


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Date: 29 Jun 90 05:44:49 PDT (Friday)
From: Crawford.WBST129 at Xerox.COM
Subject: Auto Mash


In the latest issue of Zymurgy I saw an ad for Auto Mash.  It's a
programmable mashing device that uses a heated water jacket for maintaining
temp. (to avoid scourching).  You simply program what temp and how long for
each of up to three temp. rests and start it up.  It will even stir the
mash if you want.  It didn't give a price so I assume it's expensive.

Does anyone know anything about this gadget?  It sounds like a great idea.
I could start the mash in the morning, come back later that day, sparge and
boil.  It sounds good in theory but I hate to buy it and find out it
doesn't work very well.  If anyone has any more info. on this device,
please let me know.

Greg

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Date: Fri, 29 Jun 90 15:19:41 EDT
From: Kenneth R. van Wyk <krvw at cert.sei.cmu.edu>
Subject: A possible cheap brew kettle?


I was out in the Bay area last week, and got to try some of the
fabulous microbrews there - great!  Anyway, a friend there suggested a
cheap source for stainless steel brew kettles.  I thought that I'd
toss it out here for discussion/suggestions/etc.

Apparently (though we're not certain) Budweiser kegs are made out of
stainless steel.  For the price of the beer + the $15 (or so) deposit,
one could cut the top off of the keg and use it as a kettle.  It even
has nice handles at the top.  If I'm not mistaken, a quarter keg is in
the order of 7.5 gallons.  Cutting and smoothing the top of the keg
could be a bit of a hassle, but nothing that a few minutes with an
oxi-acetylene torch couldn't cure.

So, the main question is - are Bud kegs actually stainless?  If not,
are there any other kegs that are, and could be used as kettles?  Has
anyone tried this with or without success?  Ideas?  If it works, it
could be a great source for big and cheap stainless kettles.  Thanks
for the idea, Dave!

Of course, you'd have to find something to do with all of that
Bud...

Cheers,

Ken van Wyk

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Date: Fri, 29 Jun 90 15:47 EDT
From: BLCARR02%ULKYVX.BITNET at CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu
Subject: CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION PLEASE

PLEASE CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION TO THE HOMEBREW DIGEST

THANK YOU


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Date: Fri, 29 Jun 90 20:17:36 mdt
From: hplabs!hp-lsd.cos.hp.com!att!drutx!homer
Subject: National Competition Results

Here are the results from the AHA National competition. We had 1500+ entries
this year.

1.	Alt/German AltbierAward Sponsored by Great Fermentations of Santa Rosa, California	
1st:	Norman Dickerson, Santa Rosa, California		Kolch	
2nd:	Steven Daniel, League City, Texas		Hat Trick Alt (or League City Alt Part III)	
3rd:	Phil Rahn, St. Peters, Missouri		The Good Stuff

2.	Barley WineAward Sponsored by Edme, Ltd., Mistley, Manningtree, England	
1st:	Clay Biberdorf, Portland, Oregon		Tsampa	
2nd:	Norman Dickerson, Santa Rosa, California		Big Bam Hot Damn	
3rd	Richard Rinehart, Carrboro, N. Carolina		F.U.B.

3.	Belgium-Style Specialty BeerAward sponsored by Manneken-Brussel Imports, Austin, Texas	
1st:	Mr. Terry Olesen, St. Charles, Missouri		N/A	
2nd:	Robert Burke, Milwaukee, Wisconsin		Cream City Abbey Ale	
3rd:	Chris Studach, Eugene, Oregon		Unknown

4.	Brown AlesAward sponsored by Premier Malt Products, Grosse Pointe, Mich.	
1st:	Phil Rann, St. Peters, Missouri		T-Brown	
2nd:	Charles Lawhon, Holly Spring, N. Carolina		Dottie's Brown Ale	
3rd:	Michael Oliver, Lake Oswego, Oregon		M & B's Special Dark

5.	Cream AleAward sponsored by Homebrewery, Fontana, California	
1st:	Richard Schmidt, Arlington Heights, Illinois		Arlington Ale # 33	
2nd:	Murray Scott, Prince George, B.C., Canada		Ernie's Ale	
3rd:	Hubert Smith, Selma, Oregon		Precursor Brew "C"

6.	Fruit BeerAward sponsored by The Purple Foot, Milwaukee, Wisconsin	
1st:	John Abbott, Chico, California		
3-Dimensional Raspberry Ale	
2nd:	Jeff Andersen, Santa Rosa, California		Fletcher's Ale	
3rd:	Stephen Weiler, Niceville, Florida		Altar Boys Raspberry

7.	Herb BeerAward sponsored by Oregon Specialty Company, Portland, Oregon	
1st:	Matt Ennis, Cincinnati, Ohio		Ginger Honey Lager	
2nd:	Ray Spangler, ERlanger, Kentucky		3 Wise Guys - One Grand Cru	
3rd:	Phillip Moeller, Fair Oaks, California		Dunkin Ale Ala Bill Owen

8a.	Old Pale Ale / Classic Pale AleAward sponsored by Wynkoop Brewing Co., Denver, Colorado	
1st:	Tom Cooper, Houston, Texas		Cascade Delight	
2nd:	Norman Hardy, Seattle, Washington		Cascade Pale Ale	
3rd:	Robert Burko, Milwaukee, Wisconsin		Cream City Pale Ale

8b.	Pale Ale / India Pale AleAward sponsored by Wynkoop Brewing Co., Denver, Colorado	
1st:	Harry Graham, San Jose, California		Crocky	
2nd	Leon Boroditsky, Oakland, California		Kwa Kiutt	
3rd:	Kelly Robinson, Ceres, California		Indian Rhino

8c.	Pale Ale / British BitterAward sponsored by Wynkoop Brewing Co., Denver, Colorado	
1st: 	Ron Page, Middletown, Connecticut		Quick and Dirty	
2nd	Kathy Pratt, Chico, California		Pratt's Ale	
3rd:	Ken Barry, Martinez, California		English Bitter

9.	Porter / PorterAward sponsored by The Cellar, Seattle, Washington	
1st:	Padraic Giffen, Cotati, California		Entirely Yours	
2nd:	Cory Bailey, Sandy, Utah		TGI Porter	
3rd:	Don Moore, Edmonton, AB, Canada		Ye Old Porter

10.	Scotch AleAward sponsored by Wine & Hop Shop, Denver, Colorado	
1st:	Jerry Bockmore, Dayton, Ohio		Scotch Ale	
2nd:	Kelly Robinson, Ceres, California		Fifty Six Pound Ale 

11.	Specialty BeerAward sponsored by Beery and Wine Hobby, Woburn, Mass.	
1st:	Philip W. Fleming, Broomfield, Colorado		Anne's Choice Christmas Ale	
2nd:	Phillip Moeller, Fair Oaks, California		Extra Stout Chocolate Porter	
3rd:	Sal Pennacchio, Staten Island, New York		Pumkin Ale #3188 - Hold the Cool Whip

12.	StoutAward sponsored by Great Fermentations of Marin, California	
1st:	Byron Burch, Santa Rosa, California		Breakfast of Champions Imperial Stout Framboise	
2nd:	David Hammaker, Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania		Imperial Stout	
3rd:	Wayne Greenway, Oakland, California		Stout

13.	Wheat Beer German StyleAward Sponsored by National Association of Wheat Growers, Washington.	
1st: 	Michael Croddy, Colorado Springs, Colorado		Colorado Weizen	
2nd:	Ray Ballestero, Sacramento, California		West Coast Wheat	
3rd:	Art Priebe, Albuquerque, New Mexico		El Bock

14.	BockAward sponsored by Yakima Valley Hop Growers, Yakima, Washington.	
1st:	Darryl Richman		None Given	
2nd	Phil Rahn, St. Peters, Missouri		Basicly Bock	
3rd:	Jeff Thomford, Berkley, Michigan		Light Heavyweight

15.	Continental DarkAward sponsored by Crosby & Baker, Westport, Massachusetts.	
1st:	Ray Daniels, Chicago, Illinois		Diversey Lager	
2nd:	N. Pablo Tognetti, St. Charles, Missouri		St. Louis Dark	
3rd:	Irvin E. Byers, Chicago, Illinois		Continental Dark

16.	ExportAward sponsored by DeFalco's Wine and House Beer, Dallas, Texas	
1st:	Quentin Smith, Rohnert Park, California		Expert Export	
2nd:	Donald Weaver, New Freedom, Pennsylvania		Orwig Export	
3rd:	Eric McClary, Carson City, Nevada		Neue Rothenburg

17.	MunichAward sponsored by Wines, Inc., Akron, Ohio	
1st:	Byron Burch, Santa Rosa, California		Handbasket Helles	
2nd:	Larry Polacek, Solon, Ohio		Solon Dark	
3rd:	Rod Romanak, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii		Big Island Lager

18.	PilsenerAward sponsored by California Concentrates, Acampo, California	
1st:	Sal Pennacchio, Staten Island, New York		BME Pilsener	
2nd:	Quentin Smith, Rohnert Park, California		Pilsener Urpwell	
3rd:	Gerald Stoker, Los Alamitos, California		American Beauty

19.	RauchAward sponsored by Jim's Hombrew Supply, Spokane, Washington.	
1st:	Ron Butt, Aurora, Colorado		Across Quincy Smoke	
2nd:	Ralph Bucca, Huntingtown, Maryland		Bar-b-que Ranch	
3rd:	Andy Runnoe, Monterey, California		Rauch! Rauch!

20.	SteamAward sponsored by Anchor Brewing Co., San Francisco, California	
1st:	David Sherfey, La Crescenta, California		#26 Steam	
2nd:	Ralph C. Housley, Sacramento, California		Sacramento Steam Beer	
3rd:	Kelly Dunham, Pacifica, California		Steam Cheat

21.	ViennaAward sponsored by F.H. Steinbart, Portland, Oregon	
1st:	Ron Page, Middletown, Connecticut		Les Dames De Paris	
2nd:	Gary Morris, Burbank, California		Do-Dew	
3rd:	Kenneth Waugh, Silver Spring, Maryland		Vienna Lager

22.	Traditional MeadAward sponsored by Havill's Mazer Mead, Rangiora, New Zealand	
1st:	Gordon Olson, Los Alamos, New Mexico		Sack Mead	
2nd:	Walter W. Dudley, Golden, Colorado		New Moon Mead	
3rd:	Woodie Beardsley, Salt Lake City, Utah		Ole #2

23.	Melomel, Pyment, Cyser, Flavored MeadAward sponsored by Friends of Mead, Boulder, Colorado.	
1st:	John McKew, Davis, California		Raspberry	
2nd:	Buck Wyckoff, Jr., Houston, Texas		Foam Rangers	
3rd:	Mike Sternick, Denver, Colorado		Fillmore UPS Cactus Mead	



Best of Show - Homebrewer of the Year:
	Richard Schmidt, Arlington Heights, Illinois		Arlington Ale # 33	

The Somona Beerocrats again won the club trophy.

Thanks to Paul Echternacht at the AHA for helping get the file from their
Mac to my PC.

Jim Homer
att!drutx!homer


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Date: 30 Jun 90 00:08:06 EDT
From: Jay Hersh <75140.350 at compuserve.com>
Subject: Subjectivity, AHA Competition Revisited

Hi there,
 Sorry to take so long to repsond to John Melby's and others comments
 regarding censorship, and subjectivity, but it's amazing how a silly
little thing like a broken leg will slow you down, the bright side is
that from now on I'll have enough metal to set off airport detectors
everywhere I go.

Regarding censorship, those who know me know that I am not an 
advocate of censorship of any sort, just courtesy and occasionally
self-restraint. This leads up to John M's interpretation of my 
remarks. I thjink John missed the central point. It is not so much 
a matter of subjectivity (I like this, I don't like this, ..) as
much as perceptual ability. The tqwo major points being
1) Individuals have drastically varying abilities to detect flavor
characteristics. While perception training can enhance these abilities
as far as strengthening recall and identifiaction, you just can't
overcome what flavors and thresholds your body is physically limited
to.

2) The other major point was that John does point out that judging in 
style is important, yet I would like to add that I have seen it written 
that there are as many beer styles as there are brewers (ie there is
substantial variability, thus room for subjectivity, even in a well
defined style).

All of my experience judging at many competitions, with many people,
and helping to train people leaves me convinced that unless I really
have a feel for a persons flavor perception capabilities and personal
tastes their opinion on a beer and even their scores on it (see Chuck
Cox's comment on the AHA National competition in recent digest) can
be anywhgere from meaningless to totally useless.

Regardiung Chuck's comments, I see he put a plug in for a the futility
of the current judging system and for Regional eliminations. For those
of you who are more recent to this digest 1-1/2 to 2 years ago one of
the first real long ongoing discussions I particpated in was a suggestion
I made (surprised??) that the AHA competition was useless and that a
tiered competition consisting of local, regional and National 
levels be discussed. I put forth what was a rather half-baked idea
on how to pull this off with the active intent of solciting discussion
and input. It is my belief that the creation of the "bye" system 
where a beer which wins at a local or regional competition can go
right on to the second round at the Nationals was a result of this and
other related discussions. I would like to suggest that perhaps it is time
to re-visit this issue, maybe we can generate some good practical 
ideas and convince someone from the AHA who may be listening that
the current systerms still has serious flaws.

Jay H. - Need a screw, I've got a few in my leg!

P.S. Seems a lot of people are posting requests to be removed from 
this digest, are these just casual passing readers. Seems to me the
dedicated readership has been growing here, but I wonder if Rob G.
can post some stats??


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Date: Fri, 29 Jun 90 23:37:44 PDT
From: hplabs!gatech!mailrus!uunet!tc.fluke.COM!inc (Gary Benson)
Subject: Spruce Beer

Ah! the smell of fresh leaf Nugget hops happily bubbling away! It has been a
LONG time since I brewed, and finally decided I wanted a "summer beer" so
even as we speak, the Nut Brown Ale I have in mind is starting...

When I was picking up this latest batch of supplies, I noticed (and of course
had to buy!) a tiny little bottle of "Spruce Essence". It smells really
good, but I cannot imagine the character it might add to the beer, never
having had a "spruce beer".

As usual, the people at the Cellar (home beer and wine shop here in the
Seattle area) were not very informative. I wasn't really expecting them to
haul a bottle out for me to try, but I have to admit, I did expect more
than, "well some people like it, some don't". My only homebrewing book ("The
Complete Handbook of Home Brewing") doesn't mention it. I wish the Cellar
people had been been able to characterize it in some way. If anyone here
ever used it, I'm interested in the answers to a few questions:

When is it added? I suspect at bottling time would be fine. Does the beer
pick up the soft, semi-sweet medicinal tones that are so predominant in the
smell of the essence? Or does something else happen when it mixes with malt
and hops flavors? What style of beer is best suited to the use of Spruce
Essence? Is there a commercial beer representative of the style that I can
obtain here in Seattle?

For those who have never seen it, mine is in a small plastic bottle that
looked for the world like nose drops, and the only information on the label
(besides the maker: Leigh-Williams and Sons of TATTENHALL, Nr. CHESTER) is
that the 1/2 fl oz bottle is "Sufficient for eight gallons of spruce beer."

Who's used it?

Gary Benson    -=[ S M I L E R ]=-   -_-_-_-inc at fluke.tc.com_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling,
is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.    -James Baldwin

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Date: Sun, 1 Jul 90 17:56:55 PDT
From: "Gary F. Mason - Image Systems - MKO2-2/K03 - 603884[DTN264]-1503 01-Jul-1990 2053" <mason at habs11.enet.dec.com>
Subject: Oatmeal stout...

    I am trying to develop a sense for the different styles of brews - ales
    and heavier.  In the past, I have tasted Guinness stout a couple of
    times, and found it much too astringent for me.  Even porters seem too
    far to that side of the spectrum.  I have never tasted what I knew to
    be a brown ale.
    
    I was at a wedding this weekend in Maryland, and they had some bottles
    of an oatmeal stout.  I was persuaded to try it, and it was very good. 
    My sense is that it wasn't as astringent as the porters I have tried,
    and certainly nowhere near the stout.  It was a very dark brown, and
    the best description I can make is that it is a VERY heavy ale.  Struck
    me as not to hoppy either.
    
    Can anyone enlighten me further on this phenomenon known as oatmeal
    stout.
    
    Thanks...Gary

    P.S. The stout was Samuael Smith (Tadcaster).  Charlie says there is only
         one brewed commercially, so that may be it.

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #451, 07/02/90
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